Tainted Hero
by PearltheWereFox
Summary: Darlene is in love with the noble Station Square hero, Sonic. However, once he asks her out and she finds out Sally's secret...things may not be what she thought it would be. Love triangle! Fluff and strong language ahead. I only own Darlene, Venom, and Rosebud! *on hiatus*
1. Chapter 1: I'm so in Love

Those sharp, bright blue quills…

Those piercing emerald green eyes…

The way his T-shirt and pants hug his body…

He's the one. I know he's the one.

I'm Darlene the Hedgehog. I'm 16 years old, I have brown fur and teal eyes, I'm silly and imaginative, and I'm in love with the hottest guy in the town, Sonic the Hedgehog. Why, you may ask? Well, he's noble and strong, he's always saving the day from Dr. Eggman, he's only 2 years older than me, and he's so sexy! How can I not have a crush on him?

Also, everyone in town is saying he hasn't found that special someone yet. Oh, how I wish I was that someone. The only problem is I'm way too shy to confront him and ask him to go out with me. I'm too shy to talk to anyone except my friends, actually.

"Darlene? Are you daydreaming again?"

I snap out of my trance and turn to Amy Rose, one of my said friends. A pink, bubbly hedgehog, she also has the hots for Sonic, which instantly makes us friendly rivals. "Oh, was I? Sorry. Can't help it when he's around." I turn back to Sonic, who was talking to his guy friends at the table across from us. One of them, Shadow the Hedgehog (aka the Bad Boy of Station Square), looked over at me, and I instantly turned back to my friends.

"Yea, I might wanna watch out if I were you," Rouge the Bat said, taking a sip of her coffee, "I think Shadow may have an interest in you. I've seen many of this type of boys in my day, and I know what's gonna happen: You're gonna date him, he loses interest in you and finds another woman, you find out he's cheating on you, you're left heartbroken." Rouge actually has a tragic past: her family abandoned her when she was 5, a friend betrayed her when she was 12, and she ended up dating a bad boy and got cheated on when she was 17.

"'I'll have to agree on that," Sally Acorn said. For some reason, she does not care for Sonic that much, but she won't tell us why. "You shouldn't have to go through what Rouge did 4 years ago, Darlene."

"I hope I won't," I replied, "I don't like Shadow that way anyway."

"We know you don't," Cream the Rabbit said, "It's just that bad boys seem to know how to pull on girls' heart strings."

"And we don't want you to fall for that kind of trick," Venom the Alien finished. Venom is the only boy in our group, an alien that came to Mobius a year ago on a meteoroid. No, he's not gay, but he is bisexual. I actually think he may have a thing for Cream, but that's just me.

"Well, we all seem to be done with lunch," Rosebud the Hedgehog said. "Let's go to the park and play for a while."

"I'm up for it if you are," Blaze the Cat, a shy girl like me, replied. Everyone else nodded, got up, and headed for the park. I decided to take one last look at Sonic, only to see he was looking at me! He smiled and winked before turning back to his friends.

I ran over to my friends, trying to calm down so I wouldn't be seen blushing. He winked at me! Sonic winked at me!

_Take that, Amy, _I thought playfully, trying not to smirk.

**(A/N: Intoduced characters ages:**

**Darlene: 16**

**Sonic: 18**

**Amy: 15**

**Shadow: 18**

**Rouge: 21**

**Sally: 18**

**Cream: 13**

**Venom: 15**

**Rosebud: 18**

**Blaze: 16)**


	2. Chapter 2: First Conversation

At the park, I was swinging alone as everyone else was on the monkey bars (I don't have strong arms). I began humming a tune like I usually do on the swings when I suddenly noticed Sonic walking over to the swings. _Don't panic. Don't panic, _I kept thinking to myself as I kept humming. He walked closer until he sat on the swing next to me. I then began to calm down as my tune ended and I slowed down my swinging.

"That was a cute tune," Sonic said to me, making me turn to him.

"Oh. Thanks," I say happily. The swing then stops, and I get up to stretch.

"You know, when I saw you at the restaurant earlier, you looked kinda cute," he said, getting up as well. He then wrapped an arm around me. I blushed involuntarily.

"T-thank you," I say again. This has to be a dream. It has to be. Why would Sonic wanna flirt with me?

"You're a shy one, aren't you? You don't seem to talk much."

"Yea. I am a bit shy when it comes to someone I've never spoken to before."

"Darlene! We're getting ice cream and heading to Cream's house!" I heard Amy shout.

"I'll be right there!" I yelled back. I then turn to Sonic and say, "Yea, I gotta go."

"Okay then," he said, giving me a hug. He then whispered in my ear, "Could I…maybe have you phone number first?"

"Oh. Okay." We exchanged numbers, and I ran over to my friends, waving goodbye to Sonic.

"What took you so long?" Sally asked me, giving me the eyebrow.

"I was talking to Sonic. We exchanged numbers," I reply shyly.

"You WHAT?!" Amy asked, shocked.

"We exchanged numbers. He was flirting with me a little bit."

"Ooooooohhh. I think he likes yoooooouu," Rouge said in sing-song. I giggle as Rouge and Rosebud hug me, congratulating me. I then glance at Sally, who looked disappointed.

"Sally, are you jealous?" I asked.

"What?! No! I'm not jealous! I told you I don't like Sonic!" Sally retaliated.

"Then why did you look so disappointed?"

"N-no reason. No reason at all!" She crossed her arms and huffed.

"Come on, Sally! Why won't you tell us?!"

"Because there's nothing to tell!"

I stopped talking to her then as we were at the ice cream place. We got our ice cream, and we headed to Cream's house. I still wish Sally would tell us, though. I wanna know that she can trust us.

*Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring!*

I pick up my phone and answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, cutie. I never got your name. What is it?"

"Darlene," I reply, trying to stay calm.

"Ah. That's a nice name. Listen…do you wanna…hang out tomorrow?"

I grin widely. "Sure! I'd love to! What time and where?"

"How about the ice cream place at 1 pm?"

"Fine by me. Bye!" I ended the call. I put my phone back in my pocket and noticed everyone was staring at me.

"Got a date?" Rouge said in a teasing way.

"Not necessarily. Sonic and I are just going to hang out together tomorrow," I told them.

"Lucky…" Amy crossed her arms and huffed, obviously jealous.

"We're here!" Cream said as she opened her front door. "Hey mom! My friends are here, okay?"

"Okay, dear. I'm getting dinner ready right now. There's soda in the fridge if you guys get thirsty."

"Okey dokey, mom!" We then followed Cream to the living room and played video games until it was night time, and we stayed there for a sleepover that night.


	3. Chapter 3: New Friends

I opened my eyes to see the rest of my friends still sleeping away in their sleeping bags. I got up, grabbed my clothes, and headed over to the bathroom. When I got there, Vanilla had just walked out of it, and we almost ran into one another.

"Oh! Sorry, Darlene. I almost ran into you," Vanilla said, chuckling embarrassingly, "Anyway, what are you doing up at 10:00?"

"Well, I plan on hanging out with Sonic later today, so I want to make sure I'm ready beforehand," I explained.

"Really? Sonic? Wow. I wonder if he's interested in you."

"I'm wondering that as well." Vanilla then left, and I went into the bathroom to get changed. Once I did, I told Vanilla to tell my friends that I left to eat an early lunch so I can get to the rendezvous point on time.

-after lunch-

"Mmm…that was a good lunch," I said to myself as I walked over to the ice cream shop. I picked up the pace once I saw Sonic and his friends already there. "Sonic!" I called out as I ran over to him. Suddenly, I trip over my feet, and shut my eyes, bracing for the contact my face will bring to the sidewalk, when I feel an arm wrap around my stomach.

I slowly open my eyes and turn my head to look behind me only to see that Shadow had caught me. I quickly back away from him, surprised he would do something like that.

"My apologies for surprising you," Shadow said, his mouth in a smirk, "but next time, try to slow down and watch where you're going." I blush, embarrassed.

"Hey, Darlen'. I got you some ice cream," I heard a familiar voice say. I turn around to see Sonic holding out a chocolate ice cream cone to me. I took it, beaming.

"Chocolate! My favorite! Thank you so much!" I say to him happily as I lick up the ice cream.

"I'd like to introduce you to my friends," Sonic told me, "I see you've already met the 'bad boy,' Shadow."

Shadow glared and growled at him. He was acting as if Sonic was making fun of him. I shrugged it off, assuming he was just mad that Sonic is basically telling me to try not to be with him alone. He then pointed over to a yellow, two-tailed fox.

"That's Miles Prower. Befriend him, and he'll allow you to call him Tails." I walked over to him and held my hand out to him. He shook my hand, saying it was nice to meet me. Sonic then twirled me around to look at a red echidna and a white hedgehog with a crazy (in a good way) hairdo. "And this is Knuckles the Echidna and Silver the Hedgehog." I waved to them, and they waved back.

"So…" Tails said, "now that we're all introduced to one another, why don't we go to the aracade?"

"That okay with you, Darlen'?" Sonic asked turning to me.

"Sure, it's fine, but I don't have any extra money for tokens," I reply, disappointedly.

"Hey, don't worry so much," Sonic said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, "I'm willing to share."

I smile at him and say thanks, and we head over to the arcade.

-at the arcade-

"Hello, Sonic. The usual?" a green hedgehog asked Sonic.

"Yep. And do you think we could get a few extra for my girlfriend here, Breezie?" he said, gesturing to me. I blush; did he really just call me his girlfriend?!

Breezie looked at me…sympathetically…? I was a bit confused. I wonder why she did that. The green hedgehog handed Sonic some tokens, and he headed the tokens out to us. We each got 10 tokens, and we split up to play some games.

A little later, I was at the counter, searching for a prize that caught my eye. I had won a few jackpots and ended up getting 300 tickets total. I was still looking when Sonic came up as well.

Finally, I saw something both Amy and I might like, but just to make sure it was what I thought it was, I asked, "Um…Breezie? What is that?" I pointed up to it, and Breezie got it down and looked at it.

"It is…a DVD of an anime. I think it's about vampires. 200 tickets if you want it."

"I'll take it," I say, handing over 200 tickets.

"Damn it!" I heard Sonic shout and pound on the desk, "I don't have enough for the necklace! I think I'm…100 fucking tickets short!"

Breezie cleared her throat. "Ahem, Sonic…" she pointed over to me.

"It's okay; a few of my friends curse as well," I tell her.

"Oh…but still…" She pointed at my extra tickets.

My eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Sonic, I have 100 tickets left, and I have what I want. You can have the rest."

Sonic looked at me in shock. "Really?" I nodded, and we traded our tickets for the necklace he wanted to get. It had a sapphire heart locket, and it looked very pretty. To be honest, it looked kinda girly… Why would Sonic want something like that?

He then turned to me and put the necklace around my neck. "I wanted to get this for you," he explained, "I thought it would look cute on you."

I held the locket in my hand so I could look at it. "It's beautiful! Thank you so much, Sonic!"

*Ring ring ring!*

I took my phone out and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey Darlene." It was Amy. "Do you have free time tonight? I was wondering if you would like to meet Rouge and I at my house."

"Sure. See you there. I've got a surprise for you, anyway," I said before ending the call. I then turned to Sonic and told him my plans for tonight.

"Oh…Okay then," Sonic responded, disappointed, "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Of course!" I say without thinking, "What will we do tomorrow?"

"I was thinking we could go to my house and play some games."

I nod and hug him. "See you tomorrow," I say before heading to Amy's house.

**(A/N: Introduced character's ages:**

**Tails: 16**

**Knuckles: 20**

**Silver: 17)**


	4. Chapter 4: False(?) Rumors

"Hey girl!" Amy said once I entered her room, "How've you been?"

"Everything was great. Also…" I took out the DVD. "I got a vampire anime from the arcade. Sonic, his friends and I went there for the day."

"You already went on a date?!" Amy said in shock, "You lucky little angel."

I blushed and looked away, embarrassed.

"We were talking about some rumors that have been going around lately," Rouge informed me. She always knew about the latest gossip.

"What's been going around?" I asked her.

"The most famous one as of the past few weeks has been that Sonic and Sally previously dated."

"But Sonic has always said he's never dated a girl!" Amy and I both said.

"He's a hero! Why would a hero like him ever lie?" Amy added.

"Like I said, it's just a rumor, so people might just be trying to figure out why Sally doesn't care for him so much," Rouge reminded us, "Or they're trying to tease her or something."

I pondered a bit. "That _would_ make sense… but Sally said they were just childhood friends. They never did anything of the sort." Even as I said this, I began to feel skeptical about it. Is Sonic and Sally hiding something? I hope that's not the case. I won't believe it until I hear it from Sally herself.

Just as I thought that, Sally, Cream, and Venom entered Amy's room.

"How are things?" Cream asked us excitedly.

"What up, my peeps?" Venom said at the same time as Cream. The alien and the rabbit looked at each other in surprise, and then we all laughed.

"Hey Cream?" Amy asked, "What is up with you and Venom?"

"What do you mean?" The orange bunny asked.

"It seems like you two get along a little _too_ well, if you know what I mean," Amy replied, giggling shortly after.

Cream glanced at Venom, blushing a little, and said, "It's not like we like each other that way. I guess we have a lot in common."

As Amy and Cream argued over the rabbit's and alien's relationship, I turned my attention to Sally. She was sitting next to me, and she was looking at me curiously.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"How'd what go?"

"Your date?" she explained, "With Sonic?"

"Oh! It went great! I think we might even be official," I replied.

Sally then gave me the same sympathetic look that Breezie gave me earlier and opened her mouth, though no words followed. It was like she wanted to tell me something, but she wasn't sure if she should.

"What is it?" I ask her, "You can tell me anything."

Sally stayed silent for a bit, and then she replied, "It's nothing important. I'm...I'm happy you and Sonic are together." She smiled at me to prove it, though she still had that worried look in her eyes. "What will you do tomorrow?"

"I'm planning on going to Sonic's house. Not sure how long I'll stay, though."

Sally looked lost in thought, and I asked her, "I'm just curious, what happened to make you and Sonic drift away if you used to be friends?"

Sally's eyes clouded. "You...you don't want to know... Believe me, you don't."


	5. Apology

Hello.

I deeply apologize for being so inactive on here. I haven't really been motivated to write a lot, and when I am, I get distracted.

I'm working on Night 2 of Memories right now, and I will continue my FNaF stories as well as Tainted Hero.

Though I can't say the same for The Guardian of the Wind. I'm putting that in my 'cancelled until further notice' category of stories.

So you can expect Night 2 sometime soon...if I can get around to finishing it...


End file.
